NewsPronto

 
Times Advertising


.

USA Conversation

The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

How much is a bat worth? Protecting these tiny insect-eaters isn’t just good for farms – their deaths cost taxpayers and the wider economy

  • Written by Dale Manning, Associate Professor in Public Policy and Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee
imageA healthy bat hangs in a cave, resting up to eat its weight in bugs at dusk.Liz Hamrick/TVA

Most Americans tend to think about bats only around Halloween, but the U.S. economy benefits from these furry flying mammals every day.

Bats pollinate plants, including many important food crops, when they stop by flowers to drink nectar. Their guano is mined...

Read more: How much is a bat worth? Protecting these tiny insect-eaters isn’t just good for farms – their...

More Articles ...

  1. Why a growing number of Trump supporters are experiencing voter’s remorse
  2. Astrophysicists use ‘space archaeology’ to trace the history of a spiral galaxy
  3. Will future missions to the Moon be sustainable? It may depend on whom you ask
  4. TikTok’s popular microdramas shrink TV into bite-sized chunks
  5. Is AI really ‘writing’? From a priestess to philosophers, ancient authors would have said ‘no’
  6. How Trump plans to keep tariffs at the center of his economic policy despite stinging court losses
  7. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson disagreed about the American Revolution’s meaning even as they lay dying
  8. Baloch insurgency: Suicide bombs and uptick in violence threaten Pakistan, regional security
  9. Most people don’t know what they don’t know, but think they do – correcting your metaknowledge can make you a better teacher and learner
  10. Immigrant patients often choose doctors with a shared cultural background – what they are seeking isn’t sameness but connection
  11. Why Trump’s call to pull 5,000 US troops from Germany will hurt America
  12. Falling space debris poses an escalating risk as spacecraft get stronger and more heat resistant
  13. We tested the new World Cup ball – this is what you need to know about how it will fly, dip and swerve
  14. Detroit’s water affordability crisis is tied to the uneven distribution of stormwater management costs – a fraught history explains why
  15. How tarot readers are using AI – and what it says about our growing reliance on chatbots for emotional support and advice
  16. Why Pennsylvania’s low-income residents are feeling the squeeze as gas prices rise
  17. Suspending federal gas tax wouldn’t save drivers as much as they might hope – here’s what goes into the price of a gallon of gas
  18. Many of the Caribbean’s most important reefs are going unprotected
  19. You can change your emotions – but it’s a 2-step process that takes some effort
  20. How America’s independence from England revolutionized US philanthropy
  21. Why Kevin Warsh might still prove to be an independent Federal Reserve chair
  22. A deep-ocean climate plan wins rare EPA approval, but is sinking plants in the sea the answer?
  23. The Cherokee Bible, one of the language’s first books, is a window between worldviews
  24. Genome sequencing is rewriting the history of disease outbreaks – but without social context, it can tell only part of the story
  25. Button-pushing explorers: How to grasp that AI agents can do amazing things while knowing nothing
  26. Trump-Xi summit will be no ‘Nixon in China’ moment – that they are talking is enough for now
  27. Why political gerrymandering in the South will likely continue to consider voters’ race despite Supreme Court ruling
  28. Racial gerrymandering may be here to stay
  29. What makes a good teacher? Ask a Republican and a Democrat, and they are likely to agree
  30. We studied what happened when financially struggling artists received $1,000 a month, no strings attached, for 18 months
  31. When you don’t have the facts, argue the law: How Trump’s EPA is limiting its own ability to protect public health far into the future
  32. The missing link in America’s critical minerals push isn’t mining – it’s processing expertise
  33. ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ shows how Christian imagery circulates in unusual ways through the fashion industry
  34. What to do if someone you know in Philadelphia or elsewhere is detained by ICE
  35. Why did ‘Tyrannosaurus rex’ have such short arms?
  36. Delta-8, delta-9, THCA? What sets the different THC forms available in regulated cannabis products apart
  37. How AI can lead to false arrests and wrongful convictions
  38. How does your brain decide between the road not taken or the same old route? Resolving conflicting memories is key to navigation
  39. Why a landmark Supreme Court ruling has failed to keep racial bias out of jury selection
  40. How Pennsylvania’s new paid leave bill leaves the sandwich generation behind
  41. Black, Hispanic, female and low-income elementary students are less likely to be identified with autism
  42. Teens aren’t as disengaged as you may think: What adults get wrong about adolescents’ civic contributions
  43. Thoreau the scientist – how environmental research informed ‘Walden’ and later works
  44. People with premenstrual dysphoric disorder have higher rates of suicidal thinking, planning and attempts
  45. Conspiracy theorists are building AI interfaces to the Epstein files – and presenting their views as data analysis
  46. Why Trump’s $2 billion buyoff to cancel offshore wind farms is a bad deal for American taxpayers and the US energy supply
  47. Health authorities work to contain cruise ship hantavirus outbreak
  48. Ted Turner didn’t just revolutionize television − he changed the way we see our world
  49. Russia’s pared-down Victory Day parade tells a story: Away from the pomp, war in Ukraine is not going to Putin’s plan
  50. Canada is kicking its US booze habit as trade tensions persist